lights,good or bad on 999,& are they worthit
 

I'm thinking of buying a 999s.I've had jap and germans uptil now but I need a bike with an underseat exhaust,I'm 6,4 so the new jap stuff is to small, but am a bit worried the lights and the reliability of the 999,I like the handling of the 999 it's like my XZ12R, please give me so feed back

OK ... I'll comit myself to giving an opinion this one. I only just tried them myself on the 749 after having the bike for 18 months and never riding after dark. Takes a bit of getting used to the high beam which is circular (roughly). My low beam is set a bit low but I always forget to adjust it until I am using it and it's not convenient to get ot the adjuster knob when riding with gloves on and in the dark. THe low beam is still a projector type affair but the top of the beam is flattened off to prevent glare for oncoming traffic. It's very on/off outside the beam area.

Verdict: acceptable. I don't worry about having to ride at night, even if I don't really enjoy it much.

They are rubbish.

Can't really ride safely beyond about 60MPH in unlit areas such as the countryside. The beam doesn't give a good spread of light and I don't fell happy riding at night.

The 749/999 is apparently better that the 748/9** in this respect so they must really be crap

[Edited on 30-6-2005 by sbwells]

Hmmm .. guess it depends on your expectations then. I've never owned a UJM (other than a Fizzy when I was 16) so I have little to compare it to.

I was relatively happy with it until you burst my bubble there! :o

My previous Mille was brill. Like driving a car. The Duc is as described above. Very on/off outside the circular light and it does make fast riding in the dark difficult. But only in the countryside.

Would not be enough to prevent me buying a 999 though. There may be other reasons but the lights would not be one of them.

The lights work, thats all Im bothered about. You can see enough. I wouldnt use the lights as a decider on buying the bike.

I think there must have been something wrong with that 999 then;)

strange, i thought that the lights on my 749 were very good

lights are as good as any other bike...( had a few!!)
if your that bothered get high intensity bulbs.

mind you got caught out on a summers evening in country (bug city) with iridium visor in dark playing wsb with mates--that was quite hairy.

:o:o:o:o

A very focussed beam with the 999.
Mind you, you're going fast enough that you get tunnel vision anyway, so what's the diff?

;)

:devil:

NP: XTC - "Apple Venus"

[Edited on 30-6-2005 by Loz]

The high beam does have quite a cirular look to it, may be ducati should have put a stripe across it. It would have been like the batman logo in the sky but ducati. :)

Good thinking Tricky.

I'm not at all happy with the lights, i've seen a lot better.

thanks for you response,it help me, got a 999s in the end.
has any one got a workshop manual for a 999 or know of anywhere selling them cheap. thanks 2 you all

That's funny: several times on here I've seen people compare the 749/999 lights very favourably to the 748/996.

By this reckoning they must be really awful!
Still, I find the lights on my 748 quite acceptable, and better than some. I got one of those "20% brighter", ot whatever bulbs in the dip. As for the main, it's still the orignal factory fitting!

If you want ****-poor lights, try the 750/0990/1000SS!